Registration

One of the legalities of settling down in Berlin is that we are supposed to register at the local district office. This is supposed to be done within seven days of arrival, but we were too busy with Christmas markets to bother with that.

So we went to the local district office today, taking our passports and 'rental contract' with us.

When you think of a German Government office, this wasn't what came to mind.

Inside we asked at lady at what looked like an information desk about where to go. She didn't speak any English but we were pointed through.

Further down a crappy hall, there was a crappy set up and some other bloke that we spoke to. He only spoke a 'wenig' (little) English but printed us off a waiting number ticket and instructed is to go up to the first floor.

Here we had to wait in the waiting room, eagerly watching for our number to come up.

Half an hour later our number came up and the TV screen indicated that we needed to go up another level and report to some room #205.

At room #205 we got the fortune to get another non-English speaker. Nordine gives this lady a combination of English and German and get the point across. Nordine is doing pretty well with the German so far - more confident than me in giving it a go.

We hand over our documents but the lady isn't happy with them. She had to call a colleague over to help. This   new lady spoke English and said they couldn't find the registration of our landlady. As we didn't know our landlady's address we couldn't help out (everyone has to register, including our landlady). Without these details we couldn't register.  Frau No-English made us an appointment to come back next week with the correct details.

Nearby is a second hand store called Humana. We had no idea how big this place was, turning out to be five floors of second hand goodness. We went through the whole shop and saw some interesting stuff, mostly interesting in a bad outdated way. The main attraction today was how big this was and getting a chance to be in one of these huge Stalinist buildings, located on a boulevard that was the pride of the former GDR, Stalinallee (now Karl-Marx-Allee).

Back at home we sent emails to our landlady to get the registration problem sorted out. She has been helpful and explained the issue (use her maiden name) and that it took her and her husband three times to get registered when they had to do it! Our landlady provided some information for us to take with us next time which hopefully will do the trick.

With that sorted we took Barney out for a walk to the East Side Gallery. This is the largest preserved expanse of the original Berlin Wall. It runs for over a kilometre between our local Warschauer Station and the Ostbahnhof stations.

We picked the West side of the wall to walk along, which is probably not the best side. Its just mindless graffiti on this side. However it is a nice walk along the river Spree. 

Once we got to the end, there were lots of tourists there (well for this time of year it was a lot). They seem to just stand around, confused and in the way.

Even though it was a lovely shiny rain free day it was still bloody cold, especially on the fingers and the three of us were happy to get inside. 

Ikea

As our naughty dog has decided to make modifications to the bedspread, we had to go get another one. An identical one from Ikea.

There are four Ikea's in Berlin, with the nearest one being at Tempelhof.

We took the S-Bahn, getting out of the Sudkeuz station. I had memorised how to get to Ikea from the station but this was not needed. The way there was well signed right from the station, with big signs in German showing the Ikea logo and pointing the way to go. Even outside of the store they treat us like we are in a rat run!

Ikea itself was unsuprisingly just like every other Ikea.

Inside it was very busy. We weren't sure whether this was because of the sale that was going on, people starved of not being able to be shopping over Christmas or if it is just always like that.

Lots of stuff was on sale, and we picked ourselves up a few things we wanted for our apartment. This included a coffee table to replace the makeshift one we've been using so far. We found the bedspread we needed and this unfortunatly was not on sale...full price...49 euros. Grrrrr Barney.

Next to Ikea is a McDonalds so we went for a snack. McDonalds often does country specific specials, and I went for its Nurnburger (3 Nurnberger sausages in a burger...get it?). Nordine got a cheeseburger, pfft how common.

Part of our re-location to Berlin has been working out what each of the supermarket chains have on offer. There are quite a few main ones (Aldi, Norma, Kaisers, Netto, Rewe, Reichelt) and one we hadn't been to yet was Kaufland.

Kaufland was also in the area so we went to check it out. This particular one (not sure if they are all the same) was huge, easily the biggest market we have been to in Berlin so far. 

We really like seeing what new things are on offer for us at overseas supermarkets and this one was a good one. We had to play it conservative though as we weren't too close to home and also had all our Ikea stuff with us.

We got what we needed, and a couple of extras, and a new jacket for Barney. OK so it wasn't quite as conservative as planned. 

We were now closer to a U-Bahn than the S-Bahn so went looking for that to get home. I love how there are multiple ways to get around here in Berlin. We jumped on the U-Bahn (U6 - Templehof), switched over to our local U1 and got off at our Warschauer Station. Too easy.

Back at home we showed Barney our new purchases and he was most happy with his new jacket.

I put together the new coffee table.

And then we put it to use....we've missed being able to do this.

Schloss Charlottenburg and Potsdamer Platz christmas markets

With Christmas coming to an end, so are some of the Christmas markets (but not all just yet).

Two of the ones we were wanting to see were closing today.  With a quick check of the weather, apparently no rain all day, we were off.

The first one we went to was Charlottenburg Palace markets. This was a nicely set out market under the backdrop of the Palace. Today (maybe everyday) it was very busy in most sections. This made it feel like a happening place but was a bit frustrating dodging all the people there were doddering along or those that decide to stop without warning in the middle of the walkway. A typical hazard at any crowded spot.

This market was a combination of the usual little wooden huts and then some bigger temporary but all undercover shops. There were also some much bigger than usual food stands selling the usual sausages, gluhwein and such.

Something we hadn't seen before was a mobile ATM on one of those three wheeler comedic cars. Having seen the stability of the one in Mr Bean you can only wonder how the guy would drive this thing around corners.

Another 'wing' of the markets was pretty much reserved for children's rides. This area wasn't so busy and gave a nice point of difference from the other markets we had been to.

We visited one of the big food stands which had a long line for its goods. As we were in line it started to rain lightly. So much for the fine weather forecast. For our snack Nordine had a bratwurst in a bun (2.50 Euros) and I had a pork steak in a bun (3.50 Euros). Both magnificent as always.

We did a little bit more of a lap of the markets and then left for a bit of a stroll by continue to walk away from the markets and away from the S-Bahn where we had come from. We soon came across a U-Bahn and a quick check of our system map showed we could make our way to the other market we wanted to check out.

A couple of train station changes later we were at Potsdamer Platz. Here they had a big snow toboggan ride, and then markets circling the buildings.

The stalls that were selling handicrafts were starting to look a bit bare as they were trying to get rid of their stock before the markets finished up.

At one of these stalls they were selling Räuchermann (German smoking men) which is a traditional Christmas decoration. We had been keen on one of these and today they were 50% off (apparently). We picked up our little smoking craftsman for 5 Euros, plus 1 Euro for the incense cones. Pretty happy and with that we left the markets behind us.

At home we set up our little craftsman and let him stink out the house with his lovely Christmas'y Sandalwood scent.

Christmas in Berlin 2012

Christmas for us this year was a quiet little event.

We hadn't planned anything in particular and knew most places would be shut. The weather outside looked okay so we went for a walk to the neighbouring district of Prenzlauer Berg.

Prenzlauer Berg, in the former East, was know for its artsy inhabitants, but this is / has changed and is now a mostly gentrified area. A most sought after place to live and now with rents and property prices to match which forces the artsy folk out.

Not expecting much from a Christmas day where everything would be shut we just went for a walk. There was hardly anything going on and very few shops open (only some small convenience stores and kebab type shops).

The walk wasn't that interesting and before we could get into the heart of Prenzlauer Berg the weather was turning a bit inhospitable. Barney had got himself very dirty and Nordine had enough of walking. We still had some leftover pre-bought public transport tickets, so we hopped on the tram which runs down the street we'd just been walking. The ride back was super easy and the tram drops us off very near our apartment.

In the evening Nordine whipped up a nice Christmas meal of beef rouladen, red cabbage, roast potatoes and brussel sprouts.

We topped this off with some Christmas stollen :)

A nice quite Christmas day for three.

Boxhagener Flea Market and Alexanderplatz Christmas Markets

Nearby our apartment is a 'square' called Boxhagener Platz. On Sundays there is a flea market so we went to check it out.

Outside was snowing quite heavily so I wondered whether this market would still be on or not.

At Boxhagener Platz the market was going on. The 'square' is a medium sized park which looked lovely blanketed in snow. The stalls formed a square around the central playground and there were quite a few people milling around.

The stuff for sale was usual flea market 'junk'. Apparently this place is quite hit and miss, which makes sense. Mostly the stuff was quite junkey today. I think this was evidenced by the stall holders regard for their own products with much of it left outside to get covered in snow.

Even though we didn't buy anything it was a very pleasant walk out in the snow. The streets of Friedrichshain were quite subdued today (Sunday) with only a handful of cafe's open and people just taking their time in the neighbourhood.

Barney seem to take it all in his stride and wasn't bothered by the snow.

Later in the evening we went on the S-Bahn to the Alexanderplatz Christmas Markets. By now the lovely snowfall had ceased and the blanket of snow had turned to sludge. Snow is not so pretty in this state.

Alexanderplatz was very busy with Berliners taking in some of the last Christmas atmosphere while they could. Immediately outside of the Alexanderplatz train station was a traditional Christmas Market like we are used to, standard stalls, with the addition of an outdoor ice rink. However, the combination of unpleasant walking surface and being very busy didn't really endear us to this market.

Breaking up the market is some large shopping areas, including the big Alexa shopping centre.

We went into the Alexa looking for some more appropriate sludge trudging shoes for myself but I didn't find anything that didn't look like I was mounting an expedition to Nepal. I will have to revisit the shoe situation later. It was interesting to see sleighs for sale at the sports store.

On the other side of Alex is a continuation of the markets, but this is more of a sideshow alley type thing. Also really busy. Lots of rides, big ferris wheel, games, makeshift bars and places to eat.

We had our dinner here tonight, standard healthy market fare of large chips (3 Euro) and a half metre bratwurst (3 Euros).